De re militari

1483. Vellum. Very Good. Verona: Boninus de Boninis, 13 February 1483. Folio. [*]6 numbered 'ii iii', the first signature not signed, a10, b-z8, &10, ?10, A-D8, E10, 10 being blank. [300 x 205mm]. Seventeenth century limp vellum with gilt borders to both boards and small gilt devices to the four compartments. Old shelf sticker to the spine foot and titles in hand to the very top of the first compartment. Edges a little scuffed, the vellum yellowed and a little soiled, with light cracking in the vellum to the first two bands, with small chipping to the second in particular. Binding a little shaken but still very strong. Puncture holes at board fore-edges for ties, which are no longer present. Bookplate to the paste-down endpaper of Toronto collector Mark Andrews, with pencil erasure (some left) to the front endpaper, in Italian. Small paper repair to bottom gutter of [*]2-4, with very small brown spots to the margins, &10 with tear to one word, leaf E1 (verso) with paper strip along gutter. Repairs to upper gutter beginning at C4 for the whole of book 3. Light yellow stain to the fore-edge margin through most of the book, fading to smaller in some spots, with faint foxing to some margins, and the 'D' in signature D4 inverted. Very small worm hole in the middle of leaves *ii-aii. Last leaf of text E9, with waxy or oily brown splash, and a large piece of the upper corner with early paper fill-in, lost words added in hand, affecting approximately 10 words. Early notes in the margins of several leaves. The rear endpaper with very light 'controlled' mold spots to the lower fore-edge corner. Occasional staining throughout, but very small, (see A2), plates are all clean and bright, overall, very clean throughout. Edited by Paulus Ramusius, Junior. This is the second Latin edition, the first was 1472. It is the first book printed with technical illustrations depicting the progressive engineering ideas of the time. The Verona Valturius and its reprints were reference books used by the military leaders of the Renaissance, including Leonardo da Vinci who possessed a copy and borrowed some of the designs during his time as chief engineer to Cesare Borgia. The treatise on war-craft was written by Valturius while he served as engineer to Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta of Rimini. The largely traditional methods of siege-warfare as described by Valturius were still practiced at the time, despite the introduction of gunpowder a century earlier. First published in Verona in 1472, this edition was completed by Bonino de Boninus, who completed a considerably rarer edition in Italian within the same week. Both editions include the same woodcut illustrations used in the first edition, although the order in the Italian edition varies slightly. The subjects cover a wide range of war machines and military equipment, which are beautifully illustrated here in woodcut. Bodleian Library V-042; Goff V-89; PMM 10 (for the first edition.).